Yale announces Web Development “Bootcamp”

Yalies interested in programming will be able to take a 10-week web development boot camp this summer for credit, offered as a part of Yale Summer Session, according to a Friday press release.

Yale will offer the boot camp in collaboration with the Flatiron School — a preeminent coding school based in New York. The 10-week program will be a “tailored version” of the boot camp usually offered by Flatiron, which runs for 15 weeks. The course will give students a “deep dive” into programming languages such as JavaScript and Ruby and help them gain experience in both back-end and front-end programming, according to the press release. No prior coding experience will be required to apply for the boot camp, but all students need to complete 75–100 hours of online work in advance to ensure all students begin at the same level, the press release said. On Thursday afternoon, the Yale College faculty voted to award the program two Yale College credits.

The program will cost $8,200 to attend and has a $75 application fee. Students on financial aid will receive financial assistance that will cover 50 percent of the tuition, according to the press release.

“The Yale-Flatiron School course will augment Yale’s computer science curriculum by providing instruction in the fundamentals of computer science and coding, knowledge that will benefit students, whether they go into industry or to graduate school,” said Yale College Dean Marvin Chun, who had previously asked Yale Summer Session to develop a summer coding program.

The program comes at a time of heightened demand for software developers. The National Bureau of Labor Statistics said that employment of software developers is projected to grow by approximately 24 percent between 2016 and 2024.

According to a report from a labor market analytics firm, Burning Glass Technologies and Oracle Academy — employers from both technology and non-technology sectors –– are looking for workers with coding experience. Approximately two-thirds of the highest paying jobs in fields such as design and marketing require computer science knowledge.

“People often categorize technology only in the context of the tech industry,” said Flatiron CEO Adam Enbar. “But coding has transformed every industry and profession, from transportation, to food, to healthcare, to marketing and beyond. Our education system and society as a whole will benefit as more people learn how to code and how to apply this knowledge in new ways.”

Yashih Wu, Flatiron School’s vice president of Strategic Initiatives, told the News that the company’s collaboration with Yale is “a significant step forward in [their] mission to help students learn and love code.” She added that the collaboration with Yale will help expand computer science education to more students.

Students interviewed about the new program were enthusiastic.

Jacob Abdallah ’21, a prospective mechanical engineering major, told the News that he was excited to have a summer course that could teach him about the basics of computer science.“I love the idea of a program like this,” said Abdallah. “If this program helps me better understand how to code and makes me more employable, that sounds amazing.”

Eamonn Smith ’21, a history major, told the News that although his major is not traditionally associated with coding, he would love the opportunity to gain “a hard skill” of software engineering.

Yale offered Introduction to Computing and Programming, CPSC 100, in the summer of 2018.

Skakel McCooey | skakel.mccooey@yale.edu

Correction, Dec. 10: A previous version of this article stated that some students may need to complete 75–100 hours of online work before the boot camp. In fact, all students need to complete this work to ensure that all students begin the bootcamp on the same level.